Important advances have been made in the areas of diabetes and adipose cell research in the past two years, making conferences on these topics extremely timely. These concurrent meetings will be multidisciplinary, bringing together investigators from academia and industry representing cell biology, molecular biology, immunology and biochemistry, and the clinical disciplines of endocrinology and metabolism. The prime objective is to present new findings that will stimulate cross-fertilization among basic and clinical investigators sharing common interests in hormone secretion and signalling, and mechanism of human diseases. Types I and II diabetes mellitus are diseases characterized by hyperglycemia and involve either an autoimmunity which destroys pancreatic beta cells (Type I) or unknown molecular defects that impair beta cell insulin secretion and peripheral insulin responsiveness (Type II). Dramatic progress in cell and molecular biology research has revealed a number of related components and mechanisms underlying key processes in both Type I and Type II diabetes syndromes. Common cellular signalling elements that control both T lymphocyte function in autoimmune disease, and insulin action on liver, muscle and fate include: tyrosine kinases; GTP binding proteins such as ras; and protein serine/threonine kinase cascades. Control of insulin secretion in beta cells involves many of these same components. The adipose cell and its parent adipose tissue represent unique experimental systems in which to understand the integration of various signalling pathways involved in the regulation of differentiation and development. Adipose cells are responsive to a remarkably wide range of hormones which elicit a host of well-characterized responses, including cell/tissue growth and development, substrate transport, lipogenesis, lipolysis, and protein trafficking and secretion. Molecular mechanisms involved in various signalling pathways include G-protein regulated effector systems such as adenylyl cyclase and phospholipases, receptor-associated and cytosolic tyrosine kinases and phosphatases. Since there are important relationships between (1) diabetes and obesity; and (2) signalling pathways involved in immune cell responses, insulin- secretion and action, and adipose cell regulation, these concurrent meetings on diabetes and adipose cell should provide a unique scientific forum for basic and clinical investigators involved in studies of hormone action and secretion.